SCI's CME becomes first marine training center in the US to receive ISO 9001 certification

The Seamen’s Church Institute’s (SCI) Center for Maritime Education (CME) recently passed rigorous third-party audits at its facilities in Houston, TX and Paducah, KY, contracting with WCS Quality Registrars, LLC for the evaluation and certification of its Quality Management System to ISO 9001:2015. This makes CME the first maritime training center in the United States to receive ISO 9001 certification.

Rick Dunn, president of SafeMariner LLC, who consulted on the project said, “SCI has taken a major step forward by putting in place a formal quality management system that exceeds what USCG and CME customers expect. Other stakeholders such as oil majors and donors can be confident that CME programs are best-in-class.”

SCI’s CME empowers mariners with valuable training, providing professional advancement opportunities through SCI-developed and USCG-approved courses. Instructors train mariners utilizing expertise in adult education principles and the latest navigation simulation technology. SCI has more than 20 years of multi-bridge interactive simulation experience, and their computer simulators rank top in the world. They challenge mariners’ reactions and skills with highly dynamic exercises, interactive and unique to each mariner’s judgment and decision-making. CME also offers a comprehensive catalog of e-learning courses.

“SCI has provided professional training for American merchant mariners since 1899, and now with the ISO 9001 registration and USCG-recognized Quality Systems Standard, we have the process in place to increase significantly excellence-in-service to our customers and to engage in continual improvement” said Stephen Polk, SCI’s Director of Maritime Education. “This registration is not for our benefit, but for the benefit of the mariners to whom SCI ministers and serves in the wheelhouse and on the deck.”